Cigarette paper feed



C. 'ARELT CIGARETTE PAPER FEED July 16, 1940.

led Aug. 28, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Y W M ATTORNEY 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 C- ARELT CIGARETTE PAPER FEED Filed Au. FIG. 2

FIG. 3

July 16, 1940.

INVENTOM 7 ATTORNEY July 16, 1940. Q ARELT 2,208,504

CIGARETTE PAPER FEED Filed Aug. 28, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR M M ATTORNEY July 16, 1940. c. ARELT CIGARETTE PAPER FEED Filed Aug. 28. 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 3 INVENTOR by M M ATTORNEY Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE PAPER FEED Application August 28, 1936, Serial No. 98,280

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in continuous rod cigarette machines. Heretofore, due to variations in the stretch of the cigarette paper, particularly during speeding up or. restarting of the machine, it has been difiicult to keep the point of severance of the cigarette rod at the center of the printed trade-mark or design and the mid-section of the adhering strips of tipping material, in the case of tipped cigarettes, as is necessary for the production of the perfect tipped or untipped cigarettes. It is the main object of this invention to maintain the point of severance of the rod in the desired relation to the prints and the strips of tipping material. To this end there is provided a tension control device for automatically retaining a predetermined length of web between the cutoff and the printing and/r tipping device of the machine, regardless of the varying stretch of the paper web due to sudden starts or difierent speeds of the machine.

Furthermore, in the manufacture of tipped cigarettes it has been necessary to dispense with the side guide which confines the cigarette paper to a predetermined path in front of the rodformer wherefore weaving of the cigarette paper results. Accordingly, a further object of the invention is to prevent this lateral displacement of the traveling paper web without theme of side guides.

Still another object is to provide an improved rod-former which will permit the use of wider rod-forming tapes than ordinarily possible. During the formation of the cigarette rod a crease is formed in the inner margin of the cigarette paper during its enfoldment about the filler, which impairs the appearance of the cigarettes. By using wider tapes than is customary this crease may be formed sufficiently close to the edge of the cigarette paper that it will be covered and hidden by the overlapping margin of the cigarette paper. With these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain constructions and combinations hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and in which like characters of reference indicate the same or like parts:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved cigarette machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the improved tension control device shown in detail;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 2a is a partial side elevation showing a modified form of the improved tension control device;

Fig. 3a is a sectional plan view of said modified form;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the improved Web guiding device;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the same, taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the web guiding device,

taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the improved rodformer;

Figs. 8 to 13 are sectional end elevations of the same, taken on lines 88, 9-9, Ill-l0, ll-H, |2l2 and l3|3, respectively of Fig. 7 and showing successive steps in the formation of the cigarette rod and the guiding of the rod-forming tape;

Fig. 14 is a plan view of a modified form of improved rod-former; and

Figs. 15 to 18 are sectional end elevations of the same taken on lines |5-l5, Iii-l6, l'l--|1 and |8-l8, respectively, of Fig. 14, illustrating the successive steps in forming the cigarette rod and guiding the rod-forming tape.

The particular embodiment of the invention selected for illustration herein includes an improved paper feed wherein the paper web W is drawn from a reel R (Figs. 1 and 2) loosely mounted on a stud 20 held by an arm 2| fastened to a bracket 22 mounted on the bed 23 of the cigarette machine. From the reel R the paper web W is led over a guide stud 24, a continuously driven feed roller 25, a tension control stud 26 and an idler roller 21 and is then guided by another stud 28 onto the printer drum 29 of a printing device P of conventional construction mounted on the front of the bed 23 of the cigarette machine. The printer drum 29 is attached to a shaft 30 driven from the main drive (not shown) of the cigarette machine. The paper web W is drawn off the printer drum over a tension roller 3| which coacts with printer drum 29 to positively feed the web. The web is then led over a pair of idler rollers 32 and 33 into a tipper T (Fig. 1) of any suitable construction, the particular tipper shown therein being of the type forming the subject matter of the co-pending application of W. B. Bronander, S. N. 8,363, filed February 26, 1935, and which issued on October 18, 1938, as Patent No. 2,133,341.

While passing through the latter, strips of tipping material M are severed from the web of the main drive of the cigarette machine.

tip material T and applied to the traveling paper web W at regular intervals. The paper web W is guided through said tipping device T by a pair of guide rollers 34 and 35 (Fig. l)

In the particular tipper selected for exemplification herein the web T of tipping material is continuously drawn from a reel R by a pair of rotating feed rollers 36 and 3'! which are driven from the main drive shaft of the cigarette machine, not shown, at a linear speed considerably less than that of the cigarette paper. The web T is then fed through a guide bracket 38 and individual strips M are cut off therefrom by a knife 39 supported in a revolving drum 40. The cut strips of tipping material M, each preferably being of a length suflicient for the tips of two cigarettes, are pushed by the edge of said knife 39 to a position where each strip M is nipped and pressed upon a previously pasted section of the cigarette paper by the drum 49 and a segment roller 4|, around which passes the paper web W to be tipped. The strip M is thereby pressed into adhering relation with the pasted section of the continuously running paper web. Drum 40 and segment roller 4| are driven in properly timed relation to the feed rollers 36 and 31 from the main drive of the cigarette ma.- chine to bring each pasted section of the cigarette paper into register with successive strips of tipping material. The paper web W, carrying the correctly spaced tip sections M, is drawn over the roller 35 and then led over a roller 42, a heated guide plate 43, a guide roller 44 and a roller 45 onto the continuously running rodforming tape 46 which travels at the same rate of speed as the paper web W. The rod-forming tape 46 is driven by a tape wheel 6 actuated from This tape is guided over rollers 48, 49, 59 and 5| and propels the paper web W over a bottom plate 52 to a point at which tobacco F is deposited thereon and thence under a rod-former tongue 53 and through a rod-former H. During its passage through the rod-former, the inner face of one margin of the cigarette paper is coated with adhesive by a paste-applying device G and lapped on the other margin to form a cigarette rod. The seam so formed is sealed by a sealer S when the cigarette rod emerges from the rod-former. The finished cigarette rod A with the correctly spaced tips B issuing from the rod-former is then guided through the ledger plate 54 of a cutoff of well known construction wherein the rod A is cut into individual cigarettes by means of the cutoff knife 55.

The tobacco F is showered from the chute D of a tobacco feed of conventional construction on to a continuously moving feed belt 56 and a compressor belt 51, all of which are parts of a standard tobacco feed and coact to deliver the tobacco upon the cigarette paper.

One of the greatest difficulties in operating a cigarette machine efficiently so as to obtain an accurately and uniformly cut product, lies in the task of controlling the stretching of the paper web, under the tensile stress imposed thereon. especially when tipped cigarettes are required. In manufacturing tipped cigarettes the knife of the cutoff has to cut the cigarette rod exactly in the center of the tipped sections B of the cigarette rod in order to obtain the same length of tip at each individual cigarette, wherefore the extent of the stretch in a given length of the paper web W between the cutoff knife 55 and the tipper should remain constant at all times in order to prevent displacement of the line of cut from the center of the tipped sections of the cigarette rod. In the case of untipped cigarettes, it is also essential to maintain the stretch of the cigarette paper constant in order that the line of cut may pass through the center of the print. Sudden starting of the machine or running the same at different speeds will cause a variation of the tensile stress imposed upon the paper web W when pulled in the conventional manner directly from the reel R, and great variation in the amount of stretch in said paper web is experienced when operating the machine in the described fashion. Breakage of the paper web is quite often the result if too sudden or too much of an increased tensile stress is applied to the same. Moreover the decreasing diameter of the paper reel during withdrawal of paper therefrom will effect a change in its inertia and the amount of stretch.

With the improved tension control device (Figs. 2 and 3) this difiiculty is overcome by employing a tensioning stud 26 resting upon the paper web W and forming a loop L in the same between the roller 21 and the continuously rotating feed roller 25. Tensioning stud 26 is fixed in an arm 58 adjustably fastened to a shaft 59 supported by a bearing bracket 60 attached to the bracket 22. Shaft 59 is provided with an eccentric extension 6| on which is loosely mounted a rubberfaced roller 62. The tension produced by the weight of stud 26 and arm 58 upon the paper web W is maintained by means of a weight 63 (Fig. l) which maintains a tape 64 suspended from the reel supporting arm 2| in contact with the paper reel R, to exert a drag thereon. During the operation of the machine at low speed the pull upon the paper web W of course is very small and the tensioning stud 26 then forms a deep loop L (Fig. 2) in the web, the paper then merely glides over the continuously driven feed roller 25 and is pulled off the reel R without having any great tensile stress imposed upon it. When the speed of the machine, and thereby the pull upon web W increases, the loop L of said web becomes smaller and the stud 26 and arm 58 are lifted in an upward direction whereby the shaft 59 and its eccentric extension 6| are turned in such a manner as to cause rubber roller 62 to engage with the traveling paper web. The latter is thereby gripped between said rubber roller 62 and the continuously rotating feed roller 25, thus initiating positive feeding of the paper web W by rollers 62 and 25. These two rollers coact to feed the paper from the reel R at a speed slightly in excess of the speed of the machine, instead of relying solely on the tension of the web for pulling the paper from said reel. Thus the slack in the loop L is gradually restored and the stud 26 and arm 58 move downwardly until the roller 62 no longer grips the paper.

The feed roller 25 is continuously driven by a shaft 65 carrying a gear 66 driven through a gear train 6! from a gear 68 mounted on the printer drum shaft 39. Shaft 65 is loosely mounted in bearings of the bracket 22 into which is threaded the stud 24. The latter is provided with a shoulder 69 (Fig. 3) and adjustable collar 70 between which the paper web W is guided from the reel onto the feed roller 25 and printer drum 29. Idler roller 21 is pivoted to a stud 1| held by bracket 22. Stud 28 guides the web W on to the continuously driven printer drum 29 and is set in a lug 12 of the bed 23 of the cigarette machine.

Roller 3| (Fig. l and Fig. 2) coacts with printer drum 29 to positively feed the printed paper web W at this point of the machine and the relation between the print on the web and the point of severance of the rod will remain uniform, regardless of sudden starting or acceleration of the machine, when the improved tension control device just described is employed. Roller 3| is pivoted to a lever 13 loosely mounted on a stud 14 held by a lug T5 of the main frame 23 of the cigarette machine. It is the uniform tension of the paper web W between the printer drum 29 and the cutoff knife 55 (Fig. 1) which assures a constant amount of stretch in the paper and maintains the line of cut in the desired relation to the prints or tips of the same. Another great advantage in employing the improved tension control device lies in the possibility of permitting the use of a cheaper paper of inferior tensile strength without the danger of breaking it due to a varying tensile stress upon the same. It has furthermore been found that a uniform tension of the paper web assures a greater steadiness of the latter while being formed into a cigarette rod in the rod-former. In order to grip the paper web W between roller 3| and printer drum 29 with the same tension at all times, arm 13 is provided with a tension spring 16 which is anchored to the main frame 23 of the machine (Fig. 2).

For the purpose of preventing an excessive pressure of the rubber roller 62 upon the feed roller 25 in case arm 58 is lifted too high by an extremely high acceleration of the paper web W due to sudden starting of or excessive speed of the machine, a modified construction of the improved tension control device is provideoL and illustrated in Figs. 2a and 3a. In this modified form the tension stud 28 is carried by an arm 58a which is similar to arm 58 but loosely mounted on shaft 59. To the latter is fastened an additional arm 11 equipped with a lug 18 carrying a set screw 19 engaging with a lug 80 of arm'58a. Arms 11 and 58a are connected to each other by means of a balanced spring 8| which allows arm 58a to be lifted to an extremely high position without increasing the pressure of rubber roller 82 against the web and roller 25 above a predetermined degree.

After passing roller 42 (Fig. l) the paper web W, now carrying the correctly spaced strips M of tipping material, is led over a curved guide plate 43, a guide roller 44 and a roller 45 on to the folding tape 46. Said plate 43 in combination with the guide roller 44 are employed for the purpose of guiding the traveling paper web and adjusting its path laterally. As great as are the difficulties experienced in checking the lateral displacement of a traveling plain paper web, the lateral guiding of a web carrying strips of tipping material, which sometimes project slightly from the lateral edges of the web is a greater problem. In the improved web guiding device this difficulty is successfully overcome by a swingably mounted guide roller 44 by means of which the operator can easily and quickly control the course of the traveling paper web W without the use of side guides and without any danger of injuring either edge of the paper web. Guide roller 44 (Figs. 4, 5 and 6) is loosely mounted on a stud 82 held by a cradle 83 swiveled on a stud 84 supported by a lug 85 of a bracket 86 mounted on the bed 23 of the cigarette machine. Cradle 83 is equipped with a lug 81 (Figs. 4 and 6) carrying a pair of thumb screws 88, the inner ends of which engage with the lug 85 of bracket 86. A change in the settings of screws 88 against the lug 85 will turn the cradle 83 about its pivot on stud 84 and thereby turn the roller 44, causing displacement of the traveling paper web W laterally until it again reaches a position at right angles to the axis of the roller 44. The friction of the paper web W in sliding over the stationary guide plate 43 aids in steadying the traveling paper web and the heat created by the friction will aid in drying the adhesive by which the strips of tipping material M are secured to the cigarette paper. Roller 45 is pivoted to a stud 89 held by bracket 88. If desired the plate 43 may be heated, as by conven tional electrical heating cartridges, indicated at 41. The bracket 86 may be secured in adjusted position in an upright plane by a bolt I85.

After the stream of tobacco F has been delivered upon the traveling paper web W, the latter is drawn into a U-shaped forming channel 98 wherein it is guided under a conventional rodformer tongue 53 (Fig. 1) and then into the improved rod-former H illustrated in detail in Figs. 7 to 13 inclusive. The particular embodiment of the improved rod-former shown therein consists of a bottom channeled bar 9|, along one side of whose channel is fastened a forming plate 92 which overhangs the channel and is so designed and placed as to fold only one margin of the web W and tape 46 into a tubular form. The other margin of the cigarette paper and tape 48 continue to travel in an upright or vertical position projecting from the narrow slot between the plate 92 and a side guide bar 93, fastened in position at the other side of the channel. In this position the inner face of the upright margin of the cigarette paper contacts with the periphery of a rotating paster wheel 94 whereby it is coated with a stripe of paste. The paster wheel forms a part of a conventional paster device G of well known construction and operation, wherefore further description of the same is deemed unnecessary. A guide lug 95 mounted on side guide bar 93 assures a good contact of said paste applying wheel 94 with the vertical edge of the traveling paper web. After passing said paste wheel the pasted margin of said web, together with the folding tape 46, is folded over the other margin of the paper web by a lap former block 96. The plate 92 is cut away opposite the lap former block to permit the underlying margin of the rod-forming tape to be spread away from the inwardly folded margin of the cigarette paper, the latter being held in its folded position by a concave folder tongue 91 provided with a lug 98 attached to the plate 92 in such a manner as to form a narrow slot between the inner edge 92a of plate 92 and the adjacent edge of the folder tongue 91 (see Fig. 7). Upon entering this slot the margin of the tape is guided away from the underlying margin of the cigarette paper web and the paper is held in the same tubular shape while guided underneath said folding tongue 91. This principle of guiding said margin of the tape 46 out of the way before the pasted margin is lapped on the inner margin of the cigarette paper prevents fouling of the rodforming tape by paste squeezed out of the cigarette rod seam. The other margin of the tape remains in contact with the overlapping margin of the paper until it reaches the outwardly inclined face 96a of the lap forming block 98a, whereupon it gradually spreads away from the cigarette rod. The ironing tongue 99 has an inclined face which is opposite the face 96a and serves to engage the inner face of the tape margin and spread it away from the cigarette rod so that it will not engage the sealer S (Fig. 1). The concave of the ironing tongue has the same internal radius as the folder plate 96, thus allowing, after the tape margins are spread away, the cigarette rod to expand slightly while passing under said sealer tongue. Thus a smoother formed and a better sealed cigarette rod results by permitting the cigarette rod to expand before engaging the sealer, instead of maintaining it in its compacted condition as heretofore. After leaving said sealer tongue, the seam of the cigarette rod passes underneath a conventional heat sealing device S (Fig. 1) and the finished cigarette rod issuing from the rod-forming tape enters the ledger plate 54 of a conventional cigarette cutoff wherein the rod is cut into individual cigarettes by a cutoff knife 55. p

In Figs. 14 to 18 inclusive a modified form is shown of the improved rod-former wherein one margin of the tape is maintained in an upright position during the formation of the cigarette rod, thus diminishing the wearing of the tape. In this form the first fold of the paper web W is accomplished by the tape 46 and top folder plate 92 in the same manner as in the construction described above, and upright margin of said web is similarly guided past the paste applying wheel (Fig. 14 and Fig. 15). Then the pasted margin of the paper web is lapped over the other margin of the web, but without the aid of the rod-forming tape 46, by means of an additional top folder plate I00 and the folder tongue 91. The upright edge of the tape is spread away from the adjacent edge of the paper web after passing the paste Wheel 94 and is guided into a vertically inclined slot or channel Illfla parallel with the cigarette rod and which extends in this construction from the paste wheel between the angular face of guide bar 930: and a tapered rib IBOb of the lap former 100. In this modification the 'same type of folder tongue 91 is employed to guide the opposite margin of the rod-forming tape 46 away from the infolded edge of the web before the pasted edge is lapped upon the same.

The greatest advantage in employing either form of the improved rod-former lies in the possibility of using a folding tape of far greater width than ordinarily permissible. A wider folding tape effects a better fold of the edges of the paper web, and any crease or mark left on the latter by said tape will be covered by the seam of the cigarette rod.

Although the invention has been illustrated in conjunction with a cigarette machine, it will be understood that it is applicable to cigarette packaging and other wrapping machines of various types.

What is claimed is:

1. In a continuous rod cigarette machine including a rod former, a tobacco feed, and a cigarette cutoff, the combination with a rod forming tape for continuously drawing a cigarette paper web beneath said tobacco feed whereby a continuous stream of tobacco is deposited thereon, and then through said rod former to form a cigarette rod, and thereafter to forward the rod so formed, in a tension-free condition to said cigarette cutoff, of a printer for impressing prints on the outer face of the cigarette paper at regular intervals, said cutoff periodically severing the cigarette rod at a predetermined point with respect to the print on each cigarette, and a tension control device responsive to abnormal tension in the paper and adapted to assist in feeding the cigarette paper at a predetermined speed in excess of that induced by said rod forming tape, in order to keep the stretch of the cigarette paper uniform and thereby maintain the line of cut at the predetermined point with respect to the prints.

2. In a continuous rod cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former, of a rod forming tape for continuously drawing a cigarette paper web with a given degree of tension through said rod former wherein the margins of the cigarette paper are lapped on each other about the filler to form a cigarette rod, of a tipper for applying strips of tipping material to the outer face of the cigarette paper at regular intervals in adhering relation thereto, a cutoff periodically severing the cigarette rod at the center of said strips, and a tension control device actuated by abnormal tension of the paper to assist in feeding the paper at an increased speed in order to keep the stretch of the cigarette paper uniform and thereby maintain the line of cut at the center of said strips.

3. In a continuous rod cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former, of a rod forming tape acting to draw the cigarette paper through said rod former for enfoldment about the filler to form a cigarette rod, a guide roller arranged in approximately tangent relation with and to engage one face of the cigarette paper, and means for inclining the axis of the roller substantially in the plane of its tangency to the web, and relatively to the path of the paper, to deflect the cigarette paper transversely into any desired course on its way into the rod former, said means ineluding a bracket adjustable in an upright plane, and having a cradle on which said guide roller is supported in a horizontal position, an upright pivot on which said cradle is swiveled, means to hold said bracket rigidly, at its adjusted position of inclination, against movement in said upright plane in either direction, and holding means for said cradle comprising a screw device mounted on said bracket in position to adjust said cradle rotatively clockwise around said upright pivot, and an opposing screw device mounted in position to adjust said cradle counter-clockwise around said pivot, said screw devices cooperating, when set to hold said cradle immovably in either direction, at any selected adjustive position.

4. In a continuous rod cigarette machine, the combination with a rod former, and a paster cooperating with said rod former, of a rod forming tape acting to draw the cigarette paper through said paster, and through said rod former for enfoldment of its margin in overlapping pasted relation about the filler in the formation of the cigarette rod, said rod former having means to spread away the adjacent tape margin from the underlap margin of the cigarette paper subsequently to the step of pasting and prior to the step of lapping the overlap margin of the cigarette paper upon the underlap margin thereof, and an ironing tongue, a supporting means adapted to hold said tongue where it is arranged to engage and smooth the seam formed by the lapped margins of the paper as the cigarette rod emerges from the rod former, said rod former being constructed to push away from the overlapped pasted together margins the tape margin which overlies said overlap paper margin, diverting said last-named tape margin to one side of said ironing tongue and thereby evacuating a space between said ironing tongue and said rod before the seam engages the ironing tongue, in which space the cigarette filler may expand before the ironing tongue becomes effective to seal said seam.

5. In a continuous rod cigarette machine, the combination with a support for a roll of cigarette paper, of cigarette forming means acting to pull paper from said roll, a cigarette tipper acting on said paper intermediate said roll and former, and a tension control device acting on the paper and including an auxiliary feed intermediate said tipper and roll acting to feed the paper at a speed in excess by a substantially constant predetermined amount over the paper feeding speed of the rod former and responsive to the tension of the paper for rendering said auxiliary feed operative to correct abnormal tension on the paper.

6. In a continuous rod cigarette machine in cluding a reel providing a supply of cigarette paper, a tipper for applying double length tips at spaced intervals along the paper, a cigarette cutoff, and a rod former including a rod forming tape operating to draw the web of cigarette paper from said reel past said tipper and to forward the rod to said cutoff, means between said reel and said tipper for feeding the cigarette paper, and means cooperating with said paper feeding means and responsive to changes in tension of said paper for increasing or decreasing the speed at which the paper is fed in order to maintain a predetermined substantially constant tension on the paper between said tipper and said rod forming tape so as to maintain accurate registration of the cutting point of the cutoff with respect to the tips.

7. In a continuous rod cigarette machine including a reel providing a supply web of cigarette paper, a printer for applying imprints at spaced intervals along the paper, a cigarette cutofi and a rod former including a rod forming tape operating to draw the web of cigarette paper from said reel past said printer and to forward the rod to said cutoff, means between said reel and said printer for feeding the cigarette paper, and means cooperating with said paper feeding means and responsive to changes in tension of said paper for increasing or decreasing the speed at which the paper is fed in order to maintain a predetermined substantially constant tension on the paper between said printer and said rod forming tape so as to maintain accurate registration of the cutting point of the cutoff with respect to the imprints.

8. In a continuous rod cigarette machine including a reel providing a supply web of cigarette paper, a tipper for applying double length tips at spaced intervals along the paper, a printer coordinated with said tipper for applying imprints to the paper at spaced intervals occupying a predetermined position at each side of said double tips, a cigarette cutoff, and a rod former including a rod forming tape operating to draw the web of cigarette paper from said reel past said printer and tipper successively and to forward the rod to said cutoff, means between said reel and said printer for feeding the cigarette paper, and means cooperating with said paper feeding means and responsive to changes in tension of said paper for increasing or decreasing the speed at which the paper is fed in order to maintain substantially constant tension on the paper between said printer and tipper and between said tipper and said rod forming tape so as to maintain accurate registration of the cutting point of the cutoff with respect to the tips and prints.

CHARLES ARELT. 

